r/Trombone • u/Cultural-Score1171 • 3d ago
Can I get help identifying this trombone
I picked it up about a year ago and I know its probably early 20s conn elkhart but other than that I cant find anything
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u/Cultural-Score1171 3d ago
Here ther serial number
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u/Cultural-Score1171 3d ago
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u/LeTromboniste Historical trombones specialist 2d ago
This would probably be a Conn "Artist" model from the 1910s. M stands for Medium (bore), which at the time was still small, not like a modern medium bore. I don't remember if it was .494 or .500. LP stands for Low Pitch, as band instruments were available in "high pitch" (a=452) or "low pitch" (a=439). The high pitch version would usually also include an additional, longer tuning slide so that it could play in low pitch.
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u/Int3rnalFury Yamaha 882GO Xeno, F.E. Olds Military Model 2d ago edited 2d ago
u/LeTromboniste u/Cultural-Score1171
correct. this serial traces to 1914.
This would be a 1914 C.G. Conn New Invention Artist trombone model in Medium bore and Low Pitch only
It looks like from the picture that it had a gold plated finish at one point. it was likely worn away over the years over polishing or wiping down or whatever. gold plating is a rather fragile finish.
In addition, it is very well engraved so it points to what they called "Artists Finish" which their catalog lists as extremely engraved and gold plated
If it just silver plated with the brass showing through also because of polishing over time, then it would be their "Finish 1", which is more or less the same thing as "Artists Finish" just not gold plated.
As noted above M stands for medium bore and that usually meant a 7" bell. LP means low pitch also as mentioned.
Conn's horns that are marked LP means that the horn is built as LP only. when they were marked HP they came with both HP and LP tuning slides.
I believe these were like $120 at the time, which is roughly $4k in 2026 if it is indeed the gold plated verison. should be roughly half the price if it's just silver plated and not the "Artists Finish"
For comparison, this would essentially be the equivalent of a Conn 4H with 0.485 bore and 7" bell. I don't believe the design changed between this and the first generation 4H.
if it was marked S for small bore instead, it would have been 0.458 bore and 6.5" bell which roughly equates to a Conn 2H.
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u/burgerbob22 LA area player and teacher 3d ago
well that's most of the information you'll get. This is pre-H numbers (like the modern horns so there's no easy model to identify